Who Cove is, and who carries the risk
Cove is a New Zealand insurance brand that sells online and by phone rather than through brokers. Like several New Zealand brands, it does not carry the risk itself. House and contents cover sold under the Cove name is underwritten by Vero Insurance New Zealand Limited, which means Vero is the company that pays the claim.
That is worth knowing for the same reason it is worth knowing for any brand. It tells you whose balance sheet is behind the promise. It also means a Cove quote and a quote from another Vero-underwritten brand are less independent of each other than two quotes from unrelated insurers.
This page reads the Residential Home wording at the Maxi Cover level. The version and date are given at the top of the page, and every figure below comes out of that document.
SumExtra, and the document you need before anything happens
Almost every New Zealand house policy is capped at a sum insured, which is a number you supply for what your house would cost to rebuild. If the real cost turns out to be higher, the difference is yours. That is what underinsurance means in practice.
The Cove wording includes a benefit called SumExtra that can pay above that number. How far above depends on the cause. For any cause other than a natural hazard, it pays the part of the rebuild cost that goes over the sum insured. The clause sets no percentage cap on that. Where the loss comes from a natural hazard, it pays up to an extra ten per cent of the sum insured.
The uncapped half of that is unusual and it is the most significant thing in the policy. It is also conditional, and the conditions are the part to read twice.
To qualify, four things have to be true. The claim has to be settled on a replacement cost basis under one of the numbered options in the settlement section. At the time of the loss, your sum insured has to equal or exceed a written estimate of what it would reasonably cost to rebuild your house. That estimate has to use a standard similar to the house when it was new, and no better. It has to use materials and techniques readily available in New Zealand. And the estimate has to come from a source the wording accepts. That means Coveβs own online rebuilding cost calculator, or another online calculator Cove accepts. It can also be a registered valuer, a registered quantity surveyor, a suitably licensed building practitioner, or another building specialist Cove accepts.
Put plainly, SumExtra rewards a house whose sum insured was worked out properly and documented before the loss. A number picked because it sounded about right does not qualify, and the moment to find that out is not after a fire.
This site publishes no rebuild figures and does not estimate one. The clause above shows why the figure needs to come from a real calculator or a real professional. It also shows why the paperwork is worth keeping.
Which benefits come out of your sum insured, and which sit on top
The Cove wording does something most policies do not. At the end of nearly every benefit it states, in one sentence, whether the money comes out of your sum insured or is paid in addition to it.
That distinction is worth more than most of the individual limits. A benefit paid out of the sum insured is not extra cover. It is a slice of the cover you already had, ring-fenced and labelled. A benefit paid in addition genuinely adds to the total.
On this wording, temporary accommodation, the stress payment, and the cost of meeting statutory requirements are paid in addition to the sum insured. Keys and locks, blocked drains, new building work, electronic equipment reprogramming and power generation equipment are paid out of it.
Very few insurers spell this out benefit by benefit. It makes the policy easier to read honestly. It also makes a benefits table harder to be misled by. Two policies can quote the same figure for the same benefit and not be offering the same thing, if one of them takes it out of your rebuild money.
What is included as standard
These are the benefits in the Maxi Cover wording, with the limit each one carries.
A bigger number does not mean better cover. The clause behind it decides what the money can be used for, and the notes are where that shows up.
| Benefit | What it covers | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| SumExtra | Payment above the sum insured where the real rebuild cost turns out to be higher. | Uncapped for non-hazard causes, 10% for natural hazardOnly if you already hold a written rebuild estimate that meets the conditions in the wording. See the section below. |
| Natural hazard damage | Earthquake, flood, landslip and the other natural hazards, alongside the Natural Hazards Commission. | Capped at your sum insuredAn extra $5,000 excess applies to parts the Commission does not cover, such as drains, driveways, fences, pools and tennis courts. |
| Temporary accommodation | Somewhere else to live while the house cannot be lived in. | $30,000 per eventPaid on top of the sum insured. Not payable if you planned to demolish, or would not have been living there anyway. |
| Retaining walls | Walls holding back earth on the property, including work required only to meet council rules. | $50,000 per eventCove may pay more where you supply a valuation from a qualified valuer or construction professional when you claim. |
| Roads, lanes and bridges | Your share of a private road, lane, right of way, access way or bridge. | $50,000 per period of insuranceFor a bridge damaged by a natural hazard this sits on top of what the Commission pays. |
| Methamphetamine contamination | Testing and decontamination down to the level named in the wording, and repairs needed to get there. | $50,000 per eventOne claim per tenancy or per set of tenants. A break-in by strangers at a house you live in is handled differently, within the sum insured and without this cap. |
| Gradual damage from leaking pipes | Repair of gradual damage caused by water leaking or overflowing from an internal water system. | $2,000 per eventNothing for a hose or pipe that was temporarily connected or left exposed. |
| Stress payment | A cash payment where the house is a total loss. | $5,000Paid on top of the sum insured. |
| Landscaping | Gardens, hedges, trees, shrubs, plants, garden edging and lawns. | $1,500 per event |
| New building work | Alterations under way and the materials bought for them. | $25,000 per period of insuranceNot for work worth more than $50,000, an extension, excavation deeper than a metre, commercial work, or work without consent. |
| Power generation equipment | Wind or fuel powered generation equipment at the house. | $10,000 per period of insuranceOnly for the listed causes, such as fire, explosion, lightning, or impact by a vehicle or animal. |
| Environmental improvements | The extra cost of buying and installing improvements that make the house more environmentally friendly. | $3,500 |
| Keys and locks | Replacing keys and locks, changing shared keypad codes, and opening a safe. | $2,000 per eventComes out of the sum insured rather than sitting on top of it. |
| Tree removal | Removing a tree that has fallen on the house, including the part still standing. | $2,000 for the rest of the treeNothing if you already knew the tree was unsound. |
| Blocked drains | Clearing a blockage, and repairing any driveway, path or paving broken to get at it. | $1,500 per period of insurance |
| Security system reset | Resetting or reprogramming an alarm system that was triggered during a break-in. | $500 per period of insurance |
| Legal liability | What you owe others for damaging their property or injuring them. | $2 million property, $1 million bodily injuryAwards, damages and reparation share a combined $2 million ceiling for the year. |
Natural hazards, and the extra excess most people miss
Natural hazard damage in New Zealand comes in two layers. The Natural Hazards Commission covers a set amount, funded by a levy on every household policy that includes fire, and your private insurer covers the rest. You claim with your insurer and they deal with the Commission.
Cove covers the parts of your property the Commission does not, and this is where the detail matters. Drains, pipes and cables, driveways, paths, patios, fences and walls other than retaining walls, external swimming and spa pools, and tennis courts are all outside the Commissionβs cover. Cove will pay for those, and an additional five thousand dollar excess applies to that part of the claim.
That excess is easy to overlook and easy to trigger. An earthquake that cracks a driveway and a pool surround is exactly the kind of claim it applies to.
The other limit is the ceiling itself. For natural hazard damage the total is capped at your sum insured, and SumExtra can add at most ten per cent on top. The uncapped half of SumExtra does not apply to hazard claims.
Retaining walls, and the valuation that lifts the limit
A retaining wall holds back earth, and on a sloping New Zealand section it can be doing structural work for the whole property. Replacing one is expensive, and every insurer caps it.
Cove pays up to fifty thousand dollars for any one event. That figure includes work needed only to meet council rules, rather than giving it a separate allowance. The compliance work does not get its own separate allowance.
The wording then allows more than fifty thousand where you supply a valuation for the property from a qualified valuation or construction expert when you make the claim. It is the same principle as SumExtra. A documented figure unlocks cover that an undocumented one does not.
Private roads, lanes, rights of way, access ways and bridges have their own benefit. It covers your share, up to fifty thousand dollars. Where a natural hazard damages a bridge, that money is paid on top of what the Commission pays.
Slow leaks and what two thousand dollars covers
Insurance covers sudden accidental damage. Slow damage is excluded almost everywhere, with a narrow exception written back in, and Coveβs exception is two thousand dollars for any one event.
It applies to gradual physical damage caused by water leaking or overflowing from an internal water system, which means the plumbing built into the house. The wording rules out water from a hose or pipe that was temporarily connected or left exposed. A garden hose left running is not this benefit.
Two thousand dollars is a contribution towards an early find. A leak that has been running behind a wall for two years will cost several times that to put right, and the difference is not insured.
The practical protection is not the benefit. It is checking under the sink and around the shower before the damage shows. Once it shows, it is usually past what this clause pays for.
Letting the house, and the excesses that come with it
The Cove wording adds excesses for how the house is used, and they apply on top of the ordinary excess rather than instead of it.
Where the house is let to tenants other than you, an additional two hundred and fifty dollars applies to each event. Where the house is made available to anyone for casual use in return for payment, which covers short-stay letting, an additional one thousand dollars applies to each event. Neither applies where the loss came from fire, flood or a natural hazard.
Methamphetamine contamination is capped at fifty thousand dollars for any one event. Only one claim is payable while the same tenants are in the house, or under the same tenancy agreement. There is a different rule for a house you live in yourself. Where strangers get in while it is unattended, the fifty thousand dollar cap is set aside and the cost is paid within the sum insured.
A rented property has its own set of landlord benefits. Landlordβs furnishings are covered to twenty thousand dollars for each dwelling unit. Malicious damage or theft by tenants is thirty thousand dollars for each event. Loss of rent is forty thousand dollars for each dwelling unit, for up to twelve months.
What the policy does not cover
The land is the big one, and it surprises people. The wording excludes land itself, loss to land, repairing or stabilising land so the house can be rebuilt, and treating land so it is suitable to build on. It also excludes the cost of stabilising land or building anything on it to stop future damage to the house.
On a hillside that is a serious gap, and it is not a gap Cove invented. Land damage is largely the Commissionβs territory in New Zealand, within its own limits, and private house policies generally stop at the building.
New building work is limited in the same way most policies limit it. The benefit drops away in five situations. Work worth more than fifty thousand dollars. An extension. Excavation deeper than a metre. Commercial work. And work where a required building consent has not been obtained.
Sums insured are also reduced by earlier damage you never repaired. Where a loss happened in a previous period of insurance and was not put right, the wording reduces the amount available by what that repair would have cost.
What to check before you buy
These are the points where the Cove wording gives a different answer depending on something only you know about your property.
Worth settling before you get to a claim:
- Whether you hold a written rebuild estimate from a source the wording accepts, and whether your sum insured is at least that figure. Without it, SumExtra does not apply.
- Whether you have a valuation for your retaining walls, if they would cost more than fifty thousand dollars to replace.
- What is on your property that the Commission does not cover, and whether the extra five thousand dollar hazard excess would bite in an earthquake.
- Whether the house is let, casually let, or lived in by you, and which additional excesses that puts on the policy.
- Whether any earlier damage is still unrepaired, since that reduces what is available now.
- Which benefits you are counting on come out of the sum insured rather than sitting on top of it.
Common questions
- Who underwrites Cove house insurance?
- Vero Insurance New Zealand Limited underwrites the house and contents cover sold under the Cove brand. Cove is the brand and the service; Vero carries the risk and pays the claim.
- What is SumExtra?
- A benefit that can pay above your sum insured. For causes other than a natural hazard it pays the part of the replacement cost that exceeds the sum insured, with no percentage cap in the clause. For natural hazard damage it pays up to an extra ten per cent. It only applies if you already held a written rebuild estimate meeting the conditions in the wording, and your sum insured was at least that figure at the time of the loss.
- Does Cove cover retaining walls?
- Up to fifty thousand dollars for any one event, and that includes work needed only to meet council requirements. The wording allows more where you supply a valuation from a qualified valuation or construction professional when you claim.
- How much does Cove pay for temporary accommodation?
- Up to thirty thousand dollars for any one event, paid in addition to your sum insured rather than out of it. It does not apply where you planned to demolish the house, or would not have been living in it during the repair anyway.
- Is there an extra excess for earthquake damage with Cove?
- An additional five thousand dollar excess applies to the parts of your property the Natural Hazards Commission does not cover, such as drains, driveways, fences, external pools and tennis courts. It applies to that part of the claim, on top of your ordinary excess.